


Mama's Boy

by Skribbz



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Fluff, this is completely pointless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:00:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25435030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skribbz/pseuds/Skribbz
Summary: Ellie spends the day with her son.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 33





	Mama's Boy

Saturdays were Ellie’s favorite days of the week. That’s because Saturdays were JJ Days. The one day a week when she got to be with her son (aside from holidays and special occasions of course). She wished she could spend every second with him, but between her therapy sessions, working two jobs at the farm and stables, Dina’s new job as a kindergarten teacher, and JJ simply being too young to be away from Dina for too long, Saturday, was the only day that worked for all of them.

Limited as it was, her time spent with her son was the highlight of every week. It reminded her of why she was still trying to live her life. It’s what made her keep wanting to improve herself, to be the mother that he deserved. Dina had already agreed that when JJ was older, Ellie would be able to keep him longer, and Ellie had already cleared out the smaller bedroom in Joel’s house where she was now living. The hope that one day the empty room would be filled with her son’s things always pushing her toward her goals.

Their first stop for that day was the library; a regular spot for them on their outings, and one of JJ’s favorite places to visit. Ellie had started reading to him when he was only a few weeks old, and it was something they did together almost every day on the farm. Back then they didn’t have a lot of books, so she always had to add her own flair to keep the stories fresh. But here with a full library, they had so many books that they could never get bored.

The library was relatively empty that afternoon, so no one was bothered by JJ running around the children’s section, looking for any books that grabbed his attention and taking them to Ellie. Once he was satisfied with his haul, he climbed up onto Ellie’s lap, and snuggled close to her, clutching Ollie to his chest as she read. Sometimes he would just listen, clinging to her every word. Other times he would point at the brightly colored pages, and babble along with her. Most of the books he’d picked were about dinosaurs, which filled Ellie with pride.

Soon enough, the library started filling up, and Ellie felt herself getting more anxious. Even with all her progress, she still couldn’t handle being around strangers much. She hated to cut their reading time short, but forcing herself into a panic attack would ruin their whole day. So she quickly put the books away, and hurried out with JJ in her arms. 

After the lunch of sandwiches and dried fruit that Dina had packed for them, the pair went for a walk around the park. Ellie followed behind JJ as he toddled down the stone pathway. He carried Ollie with him as he explored, and the little blue elephant was filthy from being dropped every time JJ’s attention was grabbed by something new; which was often. He was easily fascinated by the simplest things. Someone walking their dog, a squirrel climbing up a tree, an ant darting across the pathway. The world was still a wonder for him, and Ellie loved the way his face lit up with every new experience.

“Mama!”

JJ had stopped, yet again, to look at a flower. He was crouched, pointing at it, waiting for Ellie to come and look at it, just as he had already done 6 times now. 

“Oohh pretty,” she said, bending over to be at his level. “You know what color that is?” she waited to see if he answered, but he just stared back at her, waiting for her to tell him. “Purple! Can you say purple?”

“Puhh-puhh,” he said to the flower, a proud smile on his face.

“Ehh close enough.” Ellie shrugged.

JJ leaned forward to smell it, inhaling way too deep and burying his whole nose into the petals. Ellie couldn’t help but smile watching him. When he pulled back he was still holding the flower stem and pulled the whole thing up by its roots. Ellie’s smile turned to full on laughter as he looked up at her with confusion, and a quiet “uh oh”. 

“Hey that’s alright, buddy,” JJ’s face had changed from confusion to the all too familiar pout he got right before crying. She crouched down to his level, “I know. Why don’t we give this flower to mama?”

His face brightened into his usual smile, and he held the flower up to Ellie. Her heart melted at the gesture. “Your other mama, silly.” But she took the flower anyway and ruffled his hair. He was such a sweet boy, and she would do everything in her power to keep him that way. Fight with everything in her to keep him from having to experience the things she went through as a child. Of course, no child could stay completely innocent for long, the fucked up world around them made sure of that. 

She pulled herself away from those thoughts before they started getting darker. Instead she grabbed JJ’s hand. “Hey, let’s go play!” Ellie said.

He immediately took off, leading her toward the playground. She played along with him, hoping to tire him out before taking him back home. She put him up on her shoulders so he could reach the monkey bars, and caught him as he came down the slide, and pushed him on the swings until her arms were sore. Finally, after the playground had started to empty out as kids and their parents went home for the evening, he started slowing down. When he could barely keep his eyes open, she scooped him up, despite his loud protests, and headed toward Dina’s home, making sure to take the flower they had carefully placed on a bench as she left. Within minutes he was passed out. 

Ellie took her time getting him home.

“How was he?” Dina asked as she took him from Ellie, trying not to disturb him too much. 

“He was great,” Ellie answered.

She suddenly remembered the flower she was holding, now slightly wilted. She awkwardly held it up for Dina to take. “Oh uh. JJ picked this for you, he was going to give it to you, but, ya know,” she gestured toward the sleeping boy.

“JJ wanted to give it to me?” Dina raised an eyebrow, the familiar smirk on her face. She took it anyway, “Thanks.” 

Ellie felt her face light up like she was 19 again. Stupid.

“So. I guess I’ll see you next Saturday, then?” Ellie said.

“Actually Jesse's parents are going to visit Robin’s sister that day. She wants them to bring JJ since she hasn’t seen him in a while. Sorry, I forgot to tell you.”

“Oh.” Ellie’s heart sank. This meant it was going to be two weeks before she got to see her little potato again. “Alright. Well, I hope he has fun.”

“Actually, why don’t you still come over that day? We… need to talk,” Dina’s smirk melted into a genuine smile as she spoke.

“Oh. Yeah. Okay!” Ellie tried not to show how excited she was.

“Well. See ya Saturday,” Dina said and hurried back inside. 

Ellie stared at the door for several seconds before setting off to her own home. For the first time ever she left JJ not with sadness and barely contained tears, but with a smile.


End file.
